"Tak' those words in connection with that other
Screepture: Many are ca'ad, but few are chosen. Tak' that again, in
connection with Rev'lations, Chapter the First, verses One to Fefteen.
Lay the whole to heart; and what's your Walth, then? Dross, sirs! And
your body? (Screepture again.) Clay for the potter! And your life?
(Screepture once more.) The Breeth o' your Nostrils!"
The cook listened as if the cook was at church: but she never removed
her eyes from Mrs. Lecount.
"You had better sign, sir. This is apparently some custom prevalent
in Dumfries during the transaction of business," said Mrs. Lecount,
resignedly. "The man means well, I dare say."
She added those last words in a soothing tone, for she saw that Noel
Vanstone's indignation was fast merging into alarm. The coachman's
outburst of exhortation seemed to have inspired him with fear, as well
as disgust.
He dipped the pen in the ink, and signed the Will without uttering a
word. The coachman (descending instantly from Theology to Business)
watched the signature with the most scrupulous attention; and signed his
own name as witness, with an implied commentary on the proceeding, in
the form of another puff of whisky, exhaled through the medium of
a heavy sigh.
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